The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-06-08
THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
A Three Days international Conven'
tiOn OF Sunday-school Promoters
and Teachers.
Interesting Reports-Thorough and Eff
fCient Organization Discussed by
the Delegates.

convention was nelu ht OHichRO on the
lst, I'd and Sd days of June. There was a
large attendance of delegates, every section
of the country being represented. Reports
on Sunday school work, essays, speeches,
and lectures on the various branches of
work to be done in Sunday schools, occu-
pied the time of the delegates during the
three DAYS session. The Statistical Secre-
tary, Mr.. Z. Payson Porter, presented an
entertaining paper on the purposes of Sun
day school work during the past year, from
which We make the following extract
During the last term the State OF Delaware,
the province of British Columbia, and the Ter
ritoTies of Idaho, Utah, and Washington have
been organized; also Louisiana and " iseonsin,
reported at the last convention az lapsed, nave
been reorganized Pennsylvania mas been
added TO the list Of banner states, every county
having organized for Sunday school work. One
hundred and ninety-four banner counties have
been reported-a gain of eighty over the last
report, and AL counties are reported COM
pletely organized by townships or districts,
each county being a banner county. The
States OF Arkansas, Moth Carolina, and South
Carolina, the province OF Prince Edwards
Island, and the Territories OF Arizona and
New Mexico, reported organized at the last in
ternational convention, are now reported as
lapsed. IL has been the purpose OF the Inter-
national Sunday School Association To stimu-
late, through its statistical work the work OF
interdenominational organization. While it is
desirable that accurate statistics be secured
from any reliable source, it is more important
that each State Province and Territory should
know from actual canvass the exact condition
of the work in its respective territory. This
can only be accomplished by thorough
INSTRUMENTATION organization. Each coun-
ty in the United States is sub
divided politically into cities. townships pre-
cincts, parishes, borougEs, or districts. The
county Sunday-school association should
ganize each into an auxiliary interdenoinina-
tional association, or where the population is
sparse let two or three townships be united in
one district association, the local organization
reporting TO the county the county 20 the State
or province, the State TO the international con-
venton. AS an aid to completeness, il is rec
commended that maps of the field should be
made, locating the Sunday-schools by n system
Of waters, colors representing the denomna-
tions.
Rev. II. C. Woodruff made an interest
ing report on the Foreign Sunday School
Association. He gave lucid insight into
the methods adopted for the introduction
Of the international system in foreign
countries. In France and Central Europe
the work is most active. In Bohemia alone
there are 1858 scholars in the association,
and in the province of Moravia 400 schol-
ars. In Italy, Spain, and Portugal en-
couraging progress has been made. DR..
Woodrutfs address was followed by an APP
propriate missionary hymn. Mr.. Edward
Towers, honorary Secretary of the London
Sunday School Union, was introduced, and
the delegates and visitors all arose TO give
| the English delegate a cordial welcome.
Mr. Towers read resolutions of greeting and
sympathy from the London society. "In
England, said he, I'VE do many things as
you do here. but in some details We have
different methods. We believe in making
| the schools pleasant for young people,
especially for young men. We find it
necessary to compete with the attractions Of
m MI hao
been adopted to interest the rough lads,
who are difficult to control. A number Of
! bands of militia have been organized, in
| which the boys have been kept in strict
discipline at drill, and the discipline is
carried into the scbool-room. We have
also organized a Bible Reading Society
which has 10000 members, all of whom
have promised to read from the Bible every
| day."
Better Organization was the subject of
an interesting discussion, and number
of speakers presented their views as to the
| best methods for extendin the usefulness
| OF Sunday school work. Rev. julius
J Grammar, DID,, rector of St. Peters Epis-
copal Church, Baltimore, said that the first
essential of teacher was personal piety.
| Without it, there could be no permanent
success achieved in the Sunday school.
! The Bible should be the text-l ook of the
bCuOOl, u Ndb tue C4lhIt6T anu COuIdSS Oh
| the church, and the infalibe standard Of
faith and morals. Organization was in
operative, for without it an army became a
mob. w. II. Hall, of Connecticut; Z. CT.
| Wheeler, Oregon; ID. L. Ward, Dakota;
Rev. II. w. Bailey, Kentucky; and r. A.
Mott, Minnesota, also spoke on the subject
and gave illustrations of the work being
done.
Rev. j. A. Worden, d. D., of New Jer-
sey, spoke on missionary Sunday school
work. The necessity for thorough mission
airy labor was shown by the fact that over
nine million of children in the States were
yet outside the schools. The European IA
tons were sending over hosts of people
| who had not received the advantages of ed
ucation, and, indeed, many of them were
imbued with sentiments of hate and antipa-
thy to government of all kinds. Their chill
dren were not likely to grow up much bet
ter if the Sunday school did not gather
| them in.
Mr.. w. A. Duncan, New York, spoke on
the subject of country Sunday school evan
gelization and home classes. He advo-
Gated the organization of State, county, and
town as the only way in which to reach the
masses. The civil and political organiza-
ton of the country was the guide tor the
Sunday schools, and by that means only
could the fullest success be attained. The
wants OF distant districts could only be as
certained by such assemblages as State
conventions, town and county meetings,
and visiting committees. The bulk of the
work OF evangelization was yet east Of
Chicago.
Gen. Clinton b. Fiske was called upon
to speak on temperance, and in responding
to the invitation the General said that he
hardly dared TO advocate his ideas regard
ing that subject be 'ore so mixed an assem-
blage. for they we're too pronounced for
most people. He looked upon the church
and Sunday school as the most potent fac
tors in securing prohibition, and every
pulpit ought to be the place of all others
where the principles of temperance should
be Numbered into the ears of the people.
There was no such obstacle in the way Of
the progress of the church and Christianity
as the saloon, and it must be removed by
the efforts of those within the church, not
by laws.
Two PAPERS on college Boat Racing"
particularly timely in view of the New
London races, will appear in the June
| Century. One. with illuetrafiona in nv